Business, general

Digital studios: it's the economy, stupid; George Lucas sees technology as a wondrous tool and a cost-cutter

Article Abstract:

George Lucas believes that Hollywood fails to see the cost and image benefits that digital processing brings to film making. Hollywood currently uses computer technology primarily for editing, but Lucas suggests returning to an older model in which studios would build up libraries of images that would be stored on disks and reused on different films. Lucas claims that studios have no reason to prefer shooting on location, since digital images can provide more detailed backgrounds. Most films are still shot on 35 mm film, which is then digitized. All mixing and editing takes place on computers, then the final version is made on film. In Lucas's scenario, actors would perform against blue screens or on pared-down location shoots, and computer would fill in the background. Conversely, technology experts also warn Hollywood to guard against wasting money on digital processes when older methods work as well for less money.

Author: Sterngold, James

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1995

Film spins off a small galaxy of screen toys

Article Abstract:

New Line Cinema's World Wide Web site promoting its upcoming 'Lost in Space' motion picture, www.dangerwillrobinson.com, is drawing attention on the Internet. The site distinguishes itself from other such studio Web sites by offering regularly updated games and activities based on the new $70 million science fiction thriller. Its most attractive feature involves the TV show's popular Robot family servant. An interactive cartoon version of the Robot, animated by a software engine, already has received 50,000 downloads. Users can retrieve the site's new E-mail messages once a week for six weeks, each of which activates the Robot and assigns it a 60-second desktop 'mission.' Visitors also can construct and name a planet based on 600 possible scenarios, and then the space-traveling Robinson family will send E-mail letters as they attempt to inhabit the new world, according to the Quick Time software creators.

Author: Marriott, Michel

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1998

A room with a cyberview; on-line hotels for the itinerant business traveler

Article Abstract:

Starting early in 1997 several major hotels will test a new program targeted at business travelers that offers access to e-mail, the Internet, hotel reservation systems and other services via the in-room television. The companies spearheading these efforts are those that for years have offered pay-per-view premium movies and adult movies in hotel rooms. Interactive television has been publicized for months but this may be the first successful market for it, because business travelers demand convenient Internet access on the road, and because in many cases hotel rooms are already wired for the services. The television providers plan to start the service in more expensive rooms, using the logic that business travelers who pay $175 for a room will not object to a few more dollars for Internet access. The first hotel to offer these services will be the Hilton Hotel at the San Francisco International Airport.

Author: Sterngold, James

Publisher:The New York Times CompanyPublication Name:The New York TimesSubject:Business, generalISSN:0362-4331Year:1996